a blog by the NSF Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology
In these days of social distancing, everyday electronic devices such as cell phones and laptops are more crucial than ever. But many of these devices, ubiquitous as they are, contain materials that are difficult to come by, called scarce rare earth and specialty elements (RESEs). For example, audio equipment such as speakers, headphones and microphones, …
Continue reading "Nano-enabled Recovery of Scarce Metals: From benchtop to startup"
Californiaās autumn 2018 Camp Fire wildfire was the deadliest and most destructive fire in the stateās history and the deadliest wildfire in the US in the past century.1,2 Eighty-five people have been confirmed dead with over 153,336 acres burned; the 2017 Tubbs wildfire, the second most destructive fire in the stateās history, burned through 36,807 …
Continue reading "Emerging Technology in Air Pollution Sensors: EPA Wildland Fire Sensors Challenge"
A lot has changed in the last 10-15 years about our hopes and fears around nanotechnology. Ira Bennett and Jameson Wetmore are professors in the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University, and onĀ this episode of the Sustainable Nano podcast we interview them about the complexities of understanding the ethical and societal implications …
There has been a recent upswing in promoting a āculture of safetyā in academic chemistry departments and labs across the country.1,2 Industry labs have been heralding this as a much needed training element for chemistry students and are happily hiring graduates of the most progressive departments. Itās not as though chemistry departments didnāt care about …
Sustainable Nano 